NOZZLE HOLDER

Abstract: A nozzle holder, in particular a sprinkler head for fire fighting, is provided with a plurality of nozzle fasteners/discharge openings (9) to which sprinkler nozzles (8) may be attached, and with an axially extending valve rod (4) which is supported by a destructible trigger element (15) extending in the direction of an extension of the valve rod. In rest position, one end of the valve rod seals in slidable manner a valve opening (5) in a partition (1') in the nozzle holder, and its other end sealingly passes through a guiding sleeve (11). Around the valve rod there is a chamber (7) which is closed by the partition and by the guiding sleeve and in which all nozzle fasteners discharge. The nozzle fasteners may preferably take at least two different inclinational positions relative to the axis (A) of the nozzle holder by being mounted on settable intermediate members or on exchangeable nozzle holder bodies.

Description: Nozzle holder The invention refers to a nozzle holder which is prima¬ rily applicable as a spray head for fighting fire and which has a inlet opening, a plurality of outlet openings to which essential¬ ly optional spray nozzles may be attached, and a valve rod exten¬ ding in the axial direction of the spray head and which in the rest position with one its end seals a through-flow opening and on its other end is supported by a destructible trigger element extending in extension of the valve rod. Trigger elements are ge¬ nerally embodied by glass bulbs which are destroyed (burst) at a given elevated temperature. In particular in sprinkler systems which operate with high pressure water (100 to 200 bars) it is important that the spray heads are kept well sealed as long as the trigger elements are intact, and at the same time that they shall immediately allow full flow after these elements have been destroyed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a suitable con¬ struction which meets these demands. Another object of the inven¬ tion is to provide a nozzle holder in which the water volume dis¬ charged from all its nozzles readily can be adapted to different space conditions. The invention is characterized by the features stated in the enclosed claims, and it will now be described in greater detail with the aid of the enclosed diagrammatical drawing in which Fig. 1 illustrates, partly in longitudinal section, a first embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 illustrates two alternatives of a second embodi¬ ment, Fig. 3 a third, and Figs. 4a to 4c in half axial sections three alternati¬ ves of a fourth embodiment of a nozzle holder according to the invention. In Figs. 2 and 3 is for clarity not shown the internal construction of the spray heads, which, however, may be the same as in Fig. 1. According to Fig. 1, the nozzle holder comprises a hou- sing 1 which is embodied by a single body (the nozzle holder bo¬ dy) and is provided with a threaded inlet opening 2, by . means of which it may be screwed-on on a water mains pipe 3 which forms a part of a sprinkler system. The housing 1 is to this purpose pro¬ vided with gripping elements 20 for a tool, and has otherwise the shape of a truncated cone the envelope surface of which is with a selected angle inclined relative to the axis A of the nozzle hol¬ der body. In this envelope surface is a plurality, e.g. six, nozzle seats or fasteners provided which are embodied by threaded outlet openings 9 and in which are spray nozzles 8 essentially of any optional type, and with fine filters 10, screwed-in. The axes B of the spray nozzles 8 subtend the same angle alfa with the axis A of the housing as the envelope surface. A solid valve rod 4 is slidably mounted in the housing I in axial position. The first end of the valve rod, the upper one in the drawing, is turned toward the inlet opening 2 and is in a slidable and sealing (seal 6) manner guided in a central valve opening 5 which is provided in a partition or intermediate wall 1' in the housing 1. The opposite other end of the valve rod is also in a slidable and sealed (seal 13) manner guided in a central opening 11a in a guide socket 11 which in its turn is in a sealed (seal) 12) , but not slidable manner mounted in the hous¬ ing 1, spacedly from the partition 1'. Around the valve rod 4, between the partition 1' and the guide socket 11, is a cylindrical space which has a larger diameter then the valve rod 4, so that a cylindrical chamber 7 is obtained there to which all nozzle seats (outlet openings) lead. The guide socket 11 is fixedly mounted in a circular recess or step 11a in the wall of the chamber 7, and is retained therein by a retainer 16 which will be described more in detail later. The guide socket 11 defines the bottom of the chamber 7, beyond which no liquid from the chamber 7 can penetrate. As the valve rod 7 is solid, liquid can neither reach the space beyond the guide socket II through the valve rod. In this space beyond (below in the drawing) the guide socket 11 is a threaded central opening 1" provided in the hou¬ sing 1, in which the above mentioned nippel-shaped retainer (bulb holder) 16 for a trigger element is screwed-in. The trigger ele- ent is embodied by a water-filled glass bulb 15 which as defines an extension of the valve rod 4 and rests at its first (in the drawing the upper) end in a means embodied by a recess 14 or the like in the end of the valve rod, more correctly in the front fa¬ ce of the rod at this end. With its other end (the lower one) rests the trigger element in a similar recess in the bulb holder 16. A plurality of holes 17 in the bulb holder 16 give to the surrounding air access to the glass bulb 15. The valve rod 4, the glass bulb 15, and the bulb holder 16 are so dimensioned, that in the rest position of the spray head, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the first end of the valve rod as a plug completely closes the valve opening 5 in which it is int¬ roduced, and the glass bulb 15 is so arranged that it at normal temperature of the surroundings resists the water pressure in the line 3. The bulb holder 16 can possibly be arranged so that the position in axial direction of the glass bulb 15 and thereby also of the valve rod 4 may be precisely adjusted, e.g. by the recess for the other (lower) end of the glass bulb not being provided directly in the bulb holder itself, but in the front face of a setting screw which is screwed-in in the holder. When, after the outburst of a fire, the liquid in the glass bulb 15 attains a certain higher temperature, the glass bulb bursts and the valve rod 4 (possibly together with a non- slidably attached guide socket) is by the water pressure in the line 3 pressed out of the valve opening 5, wich is threby made free to allow through-flow. Water form the line 3 can then through the chamber 7 and the nozzle seats 9 with the filters 10 reach the spray nozzles 8. The cross-sectional area of the valve opening 5 is at least as large as the sum of the cross-sectional areas of all the nozzle openings, and its axial length L is smaller than the axial length 1/ of the glass bulb 15. It will be appreciated that e.g. the area which can be reached by water from all the spray nozzles in a sprinkler head depends among other things on the angle alfa which the spray nozzles, more correctly their axes, subtend with the axis A of the nozzle holder. According to another aspect of the present invention, the nozzle holder is arranged so that its spray heads may have different inclinations relative to the axis .A of the nozzle holder. It is then no longer necessary to stock spray heads of several different types for different uses. Two solutions are illustreted in Fig. 2. The spray nozzles 8 are not screwed-in immediately in the housing 1, but in intermediate members which are embodied by short articulated pieces of tubing 9" which are screwed-in in the housing and which are of the type available in commerce as "articulated coupling for pressurized air" or "ball coupling for pressurized air", or are embodied by short flexible hoses 9'. The spray nozzles, moun¬ ted on the free ends of the intermediate members, defininge the nozzle seats, may then be directed as required (generally, all intermediate members will of course be of the same type in one and the same spray head) . According to Fig. 3, the intermediate members are defi¬ ned by spherical bodies 9a which are provided with a channel 9a' extending along the diameter of the body, and whose outer end de¬ fines the the nozzle seat. The spherical body 9a is with the aid of a sealing ring 9b' rotationally mounted in the somewhat enlar¬ ged orifice of the outlet opening 9, where it is retained by a lock washer 80. The outlet opening 9 is in this instance not threaded. While the channel 9a' has the same diameter as the outlet opening 90 in the embodiment of Fig. 1, the outlet opening 90 in nozzle holder body 1 has in this embodiment a larger diame¬ ter, viz. a diameter which is only slightly smaller than the spherical body 9a. Thereby is obtained that the axis B of the nozzle may occupy every inclined position between the extreme po¬ sitions B' and B", i.e. that the nozzle 8 may be swung in hori¬ zontal as well as in vertical direction. The lock washer 80 is provided with a central opening 80' having a diameter which also is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the spherical body 9, and is e.g. as large as the diameter of the outlet opening 90. The lock washer 80 is in the illustrated example retained by three fixing screws 80a which pass through openings 80a' on the lock washer and are screwed-in in the nozzle holder body 1. The fixing screws are released for adjusting the position of the body 9a, and are tightened to fix the the body 9a in a selected rotational or inclinatioπal posi¬ tion by being pressed against the sealing ring 9b'. The number of the fixing screws may vary, e.g. the illustrated fixing screw 80a may as a sole screw co-operate with a hook 80b which is shown in dashed lines and which engages the lock washer 80 in the region 80b'. In the embodiment according to Figs. 4a to 4c the nozz¬ le holder is not made as a single body together with the means for attachment to the water mains (the threaded inlet opening 2 in Fig. 1) , but it is divided and comprises a base or an adapter la which defines said means of attachment and which for clarity is shown only in Fig. 4a. The adapter is provided with an exter¬ nal thread 21 for attachment of various nozzle holder bodies such as lb', lb" or lb'" etc. with different angles alfa', alfa", alfa'" (30°, 45°, 60° in the illustrated examples). A readily releasable connection between the adapter and the nozzle holder body may also be achieved in some other manner, e.g. by means of a bayonet fixing. The nozzle holder bodies lb', lb", lb'" may besides of, or/and instead of, different inclinations also show other varia¬ tions as to the arrangement of the nozzle seats 9, e.g. different numbers and/or dimensions of the nozzle seats. The adapter la is in conventional manner fastened to the water mains 3 (and possibly also to the wall or the ceiling) , and a nozzle holder body which is best suited to the conditions prevailing in the respective space is put on.

Claims: Claims 1. Nozzle holder, in particular a spray head for figh¬ ting fire, with an inlet which may be connected to a water con¬ duit (3), with a plurality of outlet openings (9) which define nozzle seats for the attachment of spray nozzles (8) provided with nozzle openings, with an axially mounted valve rod (4) and a destructible trigger element (15) extending in extension of the valve rod, the valve rod passing in rest position with its first end, which is turned to the inlet, through a central valve ope¬ ning in the nozzle holder and sealingly closing the inlet and at its opposed other end being provided with a means (14) for recei¬ ving one end of the trigger element, whose other end is supported by a holder (16) , and with a cylindrical chamber (7) around the valve rod, in which chamber, below closed by a bottom, all outlet openings debouch, characterized by the valve being solid and the bottom in said chamber being embodied by a guide socket (11) which is unmovably mounted in the wall of the chamber and in which there is a central opening (11a) provided in which the other end of the valve rod is slidably and sealingly guided so that no liquid can penetrate beyond the chamber. 2. Nozzle holder according to claim 1, characterized by the guide socket being inserted in a circular recess (11) in the wall of the said chamber. 3. Nozzle holder according to claim 2, characterized by the recess being defined by a step in the wall of the chamber and the guide socket being retained therein by said holder of the trigger element. 4. Nozzle holder according to one or more of the prece¬ ding claims, characterized by the cross-sectional area of the central valve opening being at least as large as the sum of the cross-sectional areas of all the nozzle openings, and its axial length (L) being shorter than the axial length (L') of the trig¬ ger element. 5. Nozlle holder, in particular according one of the claims 1 to 4, characterized by the fact that the nozzle seats can occupy at least two different inliclinational positions rela¬ tive to the axis (A) of the nozzle holder by being mounted on ad¬ justable intermediate members (9', 9") or on exchangeable nozzle holder bodies (lb', lb", lb'"). 6. Nozzle holder according to claim 5, characterized by the intermediate members being embodied by flexible hoses (9'). 7. Nozzle holder according to claim 5, characterized by the intermediate members being embodied by articulated pieces of tubing (9") of the type used in couplings for pressurized air. 8. Nozzle holder according to claim 5, characterized by the intermediate members being defined by a spherical body (9a) with a through-channel (9a'), in the outer orifice of which the nozzle is mounted, and which spherical body in its turn is rota- tionally mounted in the orifice of the outlet opening on the nozzle holder body and is retained there in desired rotational position by at least one fixing screw (80a) affecting a lock washer (80) with an opening (80') being tightened. 9. Nozzle holder according to claim 8, characterized by the outlet opening in the nozzle holder body and the opening in the lock washer having diameters which are only slightly larger than the diameter of the spherical body. 10. Nozzle holder according to claim 5, characterized by comprising a base or an adapter (la) for attachment to the water mains (3) , and at least two exchangeable nozzle holder bo¬ dies (lb', lb", lb'2) differing in the arrangement of the nozzle seats, and which bodies can be sealingly attached to the adapter.

Inventors: UNGERTH HAAKAN, UNGERTH, HAAKAN
Applicants: HTC AAMAAL AB, UNGERTH HAAKAN, HTC I AAMAAL AB, UNGERTH, HAAKAN
Application year: 1994
Main classification: A62C31
IPC codes: A62C31, A62C37, B05B1